Mouth reed for musical instruments



se i. 23, 1930. H, B NEWTON ET AL 1,776,566

MQUTH REED FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed Aug. 8, 1925 0 o ,50 $0 @30 5 .7 JZz? Patented Sept. 23, 1930 UNITED STATES PA ENT OFFICE HORACE B. NEWTON AND CARL P. HICKS, OF SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA IOUTH REED FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Application filed August 8, 1925. Serial No. 49,108.

10 acter mentioned vary considerably in their tonal quality depending on the natural resiliency of the wood as well as on the shaping of the same, and it is common for a musician to find but a couple out of a dozen which exactly fulfill his requirements. However, the selected reeds are unfortunately not stable in the qualities for which they may be chosen due to the injurious action of the saliva of the player on the fiber of the material.

Attempts have been made to overcome this weakness of fibrous musical reeds Without notable success and metal reeds have been used to a certain extent, but lack in the qualities necessary to artistic rendition.

In an effort to overcome the faults mentioned, we have conducted many experiments with various impregnating substances and have finally discovered that if the reeds are impregnated with a solution of cellulosepreferably nitro-cellulosean article is produced which retains all of its original quality for an indefinite period of time and quite defies the action of any kind of moisture and the particularly destructive action of the juices of the human mouth, and greatly toughens the reed.

Thus our invention comprises the impregnation of the cane or Wooden reeds as used on clarinets, Saxophones, oboes, bassoons, or

any other reed wind instruments with nitrocellulose for the purpose of rendering the reeds tougher, stronger, firmer, smoother, waterproof and resistant to the action of acids and heat. One half pint of acetic ether is used as the solvent for the nitrocellulose and a suflicient quantity is used as to give the resulting solution a specific gravity test of .86 Baum to 90. The reeds are submerged in this solution for several hours.

The manner of obtaining the impregnation of the pores of the reed is not specially essential. It is essential simply that the reed be subjected to a. process of treatment resulting in the adequate filling of the pores ofthe reed with a solution of nitrocellulose, for the purpose or with the eflect above described It is desirable that the entire reed be impregnated, but not essential. It is essential to adequately impregnate that portion of the reed which enters the mouth of the musician, and our claims are intended to cover both that and the impregnation of the entire reed;

In the drawings "hereto, Figure 1 shows in plan approximately full size a clarinet reed A of cane or wood and at B is indicated the exposed grain pores of the material on the tapered vibrating end, while Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the reed of Figure 1 taken along the line 22 thereof.

In applying our treatment, nitrocellulose dissolved in any suitable solvent is used, and a suitable vessel having a cover to prevent evaporation of the vessels contents, a suitable frame or holder is provided to which are fastened the reeds to be treated, the same so arranged as to be readily enclosed inside the vessel with the cover in place. An adequate quantity of nitrocellulose liquefied with a suitable solvent is poured into the vessel, the reeds are adequately immersed in the liquid solution, and the lid is put in place to prevent evaporation of the solvent.

The reeds are allowed to remain in this bath for a time suitable to fill the pores adequately with the nitrocellulose, after which the cover is removed and the reeds by means of the holder for convenient handling are removed from the bath and preferably stood shaved end up as shown in Figure 2 so that the surplus material runs into the open ends of the pores B while drying, and then permitted to dry for a period of time to secure suitable hardness ofthe nitrocellulose. The reeds are thereafter smoothed of any roughness with fine sandpaper, and are then ready for use. In some cases it may be desirable to immerse the reeds more than once, with adequate drying between immersions but ordinarily if the Viscosity of the impregnating material is right, one treatment is sufiicient.

Also, in some cases we find it desirable to heat the reeds before immersing them into the impregnating solution for the purpose of drying out the air so that in cooling within the solution the partial vacuum created will draw the nitrocellulose into the pores.

It is, of course, obvious that mere brushing of the material on the reeds or shaved ends of the reeds will effect a degree of the improved qualities produced by the complete treatment but we have found the treatment to be simple and productive of a reed of definitely superior qualities over any other reed heretofore obtainable.

Other modifications within the spirit of the invention may be practised Within the scoperof the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A reed for musical instruments having its mouth portion treated with nitrocellulose so that only the pores of the wood in the month portion are filled with the solution.

' 2. A mouth reed for musical instruments having its pores filled with a solution of intro-cellulose. v

HORACE B. NEWTON.

30 CARL P. HICKS. 

